Memoir of John C. Phillips

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LIBRARY

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

Received
Accessions No.

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MEMORIAL

OP

JOHN C. PHILLIPS.

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MEMOIR

OF

JOHN C. PHILLIPS.

BY

REV. EDWARD G. PORTER.

WITH THE

REMARKS OF HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP,

AND OTHER TRIBUTES.

CAMBRIDGE :

JOHN WILSON AND SON.
Press.

1888.

MEMOIR.

JOHN CHARLES PHILLIPS, Jr., son of the Rev. John Charles
and Harriet Welch Phillips, was born in Boston Oct. 21, 1838,
in his grandmother Phillips's house, on the spot where the
Beacon Street Athenaeum now stands. He was a grandson
of John Phillips the first mayor of Boston, a nephew of Wen-
dell Phillips, a great-grandson of William Phillips the Revolu-
tionary patriot, and a descendant of George Phillips the first
minister of Watertown, who came to this country in the
"Arbella" in 1630. His father, who had been settled at
Weymouth, accepted a call to the pastorate of the Congrega-
tional Church at Methuen when John was about a year old.
Here the lad spent the years of his boyhood, receiving his
early education partly at Mr. BlaisdelFs school in Lawrence,
from which he entered Phillips Academy at Andover in 1851,
at the age of thirteen, being one of the youngest boys of his
class. He was gentle and modest in his deportment, a good
classical scholar, and a general favorite in the school.

After finishing his preparatory studies under Dr. Samuel H.
Taylor, Phillips entered Harvard College in 1854. In addi-
tion to the prescribed work of his class he accomplished a
large amount of general reading, and also found time for boat-

4

ing and other physical exercises which contributed in no small
degree to the excellent state of health which he enjoyed at
this period. The writer of this communication was his room-
mate, and remembers walking with him from Cambridge to
Methuen one day during the Thanksgiving recess.

During the winter of his senior year Phillips taught a dis-
trict school in the town of Bolton, where he had great success
both as a teacher and a disciplinarian. Ability in the latter
direction was needed, as some of his scholars were older and
stronger than himself, and at first inclined to dispute his
authority. It is sufficient to say that the young master proved
equal to the situation, and not only brought the school under
perfect control, but won the respect and good- will of all the
members. With this winter's stipend (the first money he ever
earned) he bought a wedding present for his eldest sister.

After his graduation with the class of '58, Mr. Phillips went
into the brokerage office of his brother-in-law Mr. Alfred B.
Hall. While there he attracted the attention of Mr. R. C.
Mackay, who offered him -a place as clerk in his shipping-house
on Union Wharf. Here he soon gained the esteem and confi-
dence of his employer, and the firm advanced him money to
enable him to make little ventures in the ships.

In 1860 he was sent out to Calcutta as supercargo on the
ship " Union," Captain Norton, and remained there nearly two
years as agent, living at No. 55 Radha-Bazaar House in the
native quarter. The outbreak of the war in America occa-
sioned him much anxiety, and in 1862 he returned to Boston
with the intention of entering the army. But the persuasion
of friends, and the thought that, being an only son and his
father in delicate health, his first duty lay at home, led him
to send a substitute to the war. He afterwards, however,
regretted that he had not gone himself.

In 1864 Mr. Phillips was sent to England to sell a vessel,
and the following year he formed a partnership with the
eldest son of his former employer, under the firm of William
Mackay & Co. (afterwards Mackay & Phillips), for the trans-
action of a general commission business in New York. Soon
after this he made two business voyages to Cuba. The new
enterprise was fairly remunerative, but not sufficiently so
to warrant its continuance many years, and he consequentl}'
started the new firm of John C. Phillips & Co., in conjunction
with Messrs. Floyd & Stevens, who had been previously asso-
ciated with him in the Eastern trade. Their dealings were
chiefly with China and Manilla. He remained in active busi-
ness until a few months before his death.

William Phillips, a distant relative, having taken a fancy
to him upon a slight acquaintance formed at sea, offered to
give him $50,000, saying that if his business was not satis-
factory this sum might help him to make it more so. John
wrote him in reply that his business was perfectly satisfac-
tory. His generous relative, however, gave him the money,
and in addition offered to settle $50,000 more on his wife
should he decide to marry. In 1873 this gentleman died un-
married and left our friend a large fortune in trust. He had
clung to the old English custom of leaving his property to a
male relative bearing the family name. As there was not a
Phillips among his first or second cousins, and as his third
cousin was John's father, who did not need additional property,
he resolved to make his fourth cousin heir to his estate.
William Phillips was a Harvard graduate, but had never had a
home of his own, having roamed extensively over the world
without forming any special friendships or acquaintances.
Part of his fortune he had inherited from his father, and part
from his cousin Edward Phillips. He died in Santa Cruz, hav-

ing been attended by an English clergyman and the consul,
who signed the necessary papers as witnesses.

In 1874, soon after inheriting this fortune, Mr. Phillips
sailed for Europe, and was married in London the following
year, October 23, to Anna, daughter of Alanson Tucker,
Esq., of Boston. The ceremony was performed by Canon
Kemp at St. James Church, Piccadilly, in the presence of
a few invited guests. On returning to this country Mr. and
Mrs. Phillips lived for about a year in New York, and then
decided to make Boston their home. Being much interested
in agricultural pursuits, Mr. Phillips bought two or three hun-
dred acres near Wenham Lake in North Beverly, and soon
converted what had been a barren hillside into a creditable
farm. Here orr a well-chosen site he built a fine house, in
which he was accustomed to spend six months of the year.
He also built a handsome winter residence in Boston, on the
corner of Berkeley and Marlborough Streets.

It is gratifying to record the fidelity with which Mr. Phillips
used the exceptional advantages which fell to his lot. So far
from being elated by his fortune, he felt that it was placed in
his hands as a sacred trust. He made himself acquainted with
the objects of charity which he intended to aid, and then gave
liberally. As an educated man he was especially interested in
education, and gave large sums to the well-known academies
bearing his family name at Andover and Exeter. He was
always aiding some relative or friend at school or college.
He bought a plantation at the South, partly with the hope of
being able to do some good among the negroes there. He was
a trustee of Phillips Exeter Academy, the Children's Hospital,
the Blind Asylum, and the Peabody Museum. He was also
a director of the Union Bank and of the Boston and Albany
Railroad.

The native modesty which characterized our friend's boy-
hood remained with him through life ; and many of his good
deeds remained unknown. All who knew him would say
that he had strong common sense, calm judgment, great self-
control, and a cheerful disposition. He was a singularly true,
single-minded man, devoid of ostentation, and earnestly desir-
ous to do his duty. His business career was marked by a
high sense of honor and the strictest integrity rather than by
any bold or brilliant ventures.

Although not long a member of this Society, Mr. Phillips
took an interest in its work. His death, which occurred
March 1, 1885, was caused by a disease of the heart from which
he had suffered for several years, though many of his nearest
friends were not aware of it. He left a widow and five chil-
dren. The accompanying engraving is from a photograph
taken ten years before his death.

REMARKS

OF THE

HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP

AT THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, MARCH 12, 1885.

THE death of Mr. Phillips at the early age of forty-six is
a subject for real sorrow in our community. With our own
Society he had been associated but a few years. A lineal
descendant of the Rev. George Phillips, the famous Puritan
minister of Watertown in 1630, — the companion and friend
of Governor Winthrop, who came over with Winthrop and the
Charter, and catechised and preached on board the "Arbella"
on the voyage, — he could not fail to take an interest in the
earliest history of Massachusetts. I remember his showing me,
with pride, an original autograph sermon of that distinguished
ancestor and excellent man, when I was visiting him in his
beautiful library some years ago. I believe he had other
Phillips manuscripts, which we may hope will not be wholly
lost to our Collections hereafter.

His later lineage, too, was of a kind to make him observant
of whatever contributed to the honor and welfare of our Com-
monwealth. His family name is associated, as we know, with
some of our most celebrated academies and institutions. An-
dover and Exeter owe their famous schools to the bounty and
beneficence of the Phillipses. The Observatory of Harvard

9

University was principally endowed by one of the same name
and blood. The statues which adorn our squares are, many
of them, from a Phillips Fund. He himself had given the
generous sum of twenty-five thousand dollars to the Phillips
Academy at Andover at their centennial celebration in 1878,
and an equal amount to the Phillips Exeter Academy on a
similar occasion. And it is within my own knowledge that
he had supplied most important arid liberal pecuniary and
personal aid to other institutions, at moments of special need.
I was associated with him as one of the Trustees of the Pea-
body Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge,
of which he has been the Treasurer for several years past, and
to which he has rendered valuable service. I was associated
with him, also, in the management of the new Children's
Hospital, of whose board he was the Vice-President at his
death, and of which he had been a most efficient and liberal
supporter.

A graduate of Harvard in the Class of 1858, there are those
here who can bear witness to his character as a student, as
well as to his worth as a man, better than myself; but I can-
not but feel that our community has sustained a great loss
in his early death, for which I desire to record my personal
sorrow.

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.

From the President of the Board of Trustees of Phillips Exeter
Academy.

MY regard and affection for him, my confidence in his judg-
ment, and my reliance upon it have steadily increased with
our intimacy, since I first shared his nearer acquaintance.

The relation which brought us together — a part as it were
of the inheritance which came to him by merit and fitness as
well as by race — gave me an opportunity to know and appre-
ciate him, which any ordinary social association would not have
given ; and I had learned to estimate him so highly as a per-
sonal friend, as well as a valued associate, that the loss seems
doubly irreparable. His judicious, modest, but manly counsel;
his frank and courteous liberality of opinion ; his ready and
unfailing interest in the duties which he accepted; his con-
scientious fidelity to them ; and his generosity, as unpretending
as it was munificent, — are taken from us; and I know not
how we can replace them, or how to find united with these
excellences the attractive personal qualities which insured
affection as well as respect and confidence from all who
knew him.

11

From One who was intimately associated with him in Business.

WHAT I can do is to bear witness to the true and noble man-
liness of his character. It is now many years since I first made
his acquaintance, and during a long part of that acquaintance
we were in close business relations. From the first to the
last of my intimacy with him, I never knew him to act but
from the best motives. His character was, above all things,
purely unselfish. He was, above all the men I have known,
the one the least affected by the outward circumstances of
prosperity or adversity ; those might change with him, but he
never changed, — never altered his calm goodness.

Looking back upon my acquaintance and intercourse with
John C. Phillips, I can truly say he was one of the men I am
the better from having known ; and while I live, the recollec-
tion of his friendship will be one of the happy memories of
my life.

From One of his Partners.

I HAVE only the pleasantest testimony to bear, and can re-
member nothing but what was generous and unselfish in all
Mr. Phillips's motives and actions. Indeed, I often wondered
how patient he could be under annoyances and disappoint-
ments that might well have irritated and discouraged him.

I really feel as if my best friend — without the circle of my
immediate relations — was gone ; and sadly shall I miss the
counsel and sympathy which I always relied upon receiving
from him.

From the Salem Gazette.

MR. PHILLIPS was modest, kind, and ever thoughtful of the
welfare of others. His ample fortune was freely used in un-
announced acts of generosity and friendship. His taste for
horticulture led him to the establishment of the beautiful

12

summer home on the borders of Wenham Lake, familiar to
every one in this neighborhood, the labor upon which has
given employment to many hands. Mr. Phillips was much
interested in arboriculture, and was a member of the Board
of Trustees of the Archaeological Museum at Cambridge. His
death will not only be mourned by a large circle of intimate
friends, but it will bring sincere regret to all who have ever
met him. The community can ill afford to lose one who,
possessed of social position and ample fortune, seeks the com-
fort and happiness of others as often as his own, and who by
his quiet, unaffected mode of life is so excellent an example to
his fellow-men.

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